


Wreck it Freddy's 2

by Kapra90



Series: Wreck it Freddy's Series [2]
Category: Five Nights at Freddy's, Wreck-It Ralph (2012)
Genre: Crossover, F/M, Fanfiction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-11
Updated: 2015-09-10
Packaged: 2018-04-20 04:28:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 8
Words: 20,030
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4773569
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kapra90/pseuds/Kapra90
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Embark on another journey through the horrors within the new, and unwelcome, game that is plugged in GCS. As the core four and Mike delve deeper into the lore that exists within the game, they will discover secrets and truths that some never wanted to be revealed. Will they be lucky enough to survive this time? Featuring new characters as seen in FNAF 2. Co-written by myself and Dixie Darlin from FFN.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Nightmare Rising

Vanellope found herself in the same place she had in the past several nights. She approached a window, peering inside to see the inside of a restaurant. She gasped, seeing a somewhat familiar face, serving cake to children sitting in booths.

"Freddy..." Vanellope gasped, and it was then the children began to turn in their booths to face her, looking into the window. To her horror, the Sugar Rush racers narrowed their eyes, staring darkly at Vanellope. She whimpered as their hateful words from the past began to fill her mind, holding her head as she took several steps back. It was then, a pair of blinding lights came closer and closer from her left, and she whirled around to face them, gasping. The sound of the song "All Hail to the Chief" blared in her ears, and she fell back as the car stopped short inches from her. After a few intense moments, someone began to emerge, glitching heavily. Vanellope's eyes widened as the form glitched between King Candy and dark, ominous figure dressed in a purple suit. Vanellope tries to run, but she was grabbed, the glitching monstrosity keeping a tight hold and soon, she too began to glitch, revealing a small, hysterically crying child whose eyes were huge, and black.

"End of the line, glitch!" What sounded like multiple voices shouted, and Vanellope's scream was drowned in a sea of glitching.

The small girl awoke in her bedroom, screaming on the top of her lungs from this recurring nightmare.

She clutched her bed sheets to her, pulling them up to her chin as she frantically looked around her room. Nothing. Nothing was there, as usual. Still shaking, she tried to get her breathing back to normal though her heart still raced. It took her a few minutes, but she finally calmed down enough to reach for her glass of water that she kept beside her bed.

Vanellope barely had her arm out of the covers when the door suddenly creaked open. Startled, she froze in place, her hazel eyes wide with fear as she attentively watched for any more movement. When she saw a bald, shiny green head poke itself in, she sighed in deep relief.

"Miss President, are you quite all right?" Sour Bill asked her in his usual bored tone, though he did have an inkling of concern laced in his words.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine, Billy," she replied, trying to sound as normal as possible. "Just another dumb dream. No biggie."

Sour Bill eyed her for a moment. She had been waking up night after night like this and it worried him. "Perhaps we should tell your friend, Ralph, about this."

"What? Don't be ridiculous," Vanellope chuckled nervously. "Stinkbrain will never let me live it down if he has to check my room for monsters." She waved him off, a tired smile on her face. "I'm fine, seriously. Go to sleep."

Sour Bill kept his eyes on her for a few seconds more before nodding, and then turning to leave back out to his own room. Vanellope waited until he shut the door before she relaxed back onto her bed, sighing at the ceiling.

"This has to stop," she said to herself in determination, her brows furrowed as she thought. "I have to go back."

The little girl looked over to her side bed table, taking the cupcake plushie off and hugging it to her chest. After a few moments, she hopped out of bed, sneakily heading out of the castle, intending to make her way to GCS.

Meanwhile, Mike, who had been living in the Penthouse, groaned as he sipped a cup of coffee, rubbing his eyes. It was not long after that he heard the door creak open, placing the mug down and standing up tensely. When he saw a small girl enter the room, he relaxed. "You know I get nervy when people pop up out of nowhere, Van."

"Sorry Mike... I... I keep having these dreams."

"Me too. It's probably just... trauma. I'm sure we'll get over it in no time, and it'll pass."

"Maybe," she replied, though her tone suggested that she was unsure. "I think if I go back, they'll stop."

Mike hopped to his feet then, staring at her in shock. "Van, no! Are you insane, you can't go back!"

"But I have to!" She hugged the cupcake to her more, its presence having become a comfort to her. "I feel like these dreams are trying to tell me something. I don't think they'll go away until I go back."

"Well I'M not going back. And if you think I'm gonna let YOU go, then you're daffy! Don't make me scream for Ralph, I know he'll agree with me."

Vanellope shot him a glare. "You can't stop me! Nobody can!" She shouted before she glitched out of the room.

Mike blinked at her sudden disappearance, and then he scrambled towards the door. "Wait, Vanellope, wait!" He fell to the floor but got up, ignoring the pain in his knees. "Vanellope, get back here!"

Vanellope glitched into GCS when she stopped short, furrowing a brow. Mike caught up to her and noticed other characters were gathered around where Five Nights at Freddy's was.

"It... it's gone..." Vanellope slowly turned to Mike. She noticed others approaching then, hanging her head a bit when she saw Ralph approaching with Calhoun and Felix.

"What's all the commotion about?" Calhoun asked. "That game is gone... good riddance."

"Vanellope, trust me, this is a good thing. Nothing can be worse than that game." Mike reassured her.

What Mike would realize then is that he spoke too soon. A sound was heard, noise from within becoming louder as the door to inside the game reopened, and lights flashed in the sign above, reading the following words; "Five Nights at Freddy's 2."

Everyone stared at the title as it scrolled across the digital sign. Mike shook his head, wordlessly mouthing the word "no" over and over, and began to back up. Ralph's jaw dropped open, not believing this was happening.

"I- Is Litwak crazy?!" He shouted with his arms raised up by his sides. "This one is probably WORSE than the first one!"

"What if this one really has a duck in it?" Felix gulped, remembering how Chica had scared him the most. "I mean an actual duck, not a chicken that kinda looks like one."

"I'm not going back!" Mike screamed in a panic, sweat pouring down his face. "They can't make me go back in there! I won't do it!"

Calhoun slapped him on the back of his head. "Calm down, civilian! Don't go wetting your pants just yet. The new game will have a different Mike, or whoever they are, inside as the avatar."

Mike sighed and nodded his head; she was right. Some other poor sap would have to deal with the horrors of Freddy and his friends now.

Vanellope stood silent this whole time, staring unblinking at the new game's entrance. Would this sequel game help her? Or would it do nothing?

Surge Protector was calming down the crowds, moving everyone along. Vanellope headed back with the others, but was in deep thought, and she kept staring back at the new game, the words scrolling across the sign almost beckoning her in a way. The rest of the day was a blur, and Ralph couldn't help but notice she was quieter than her normal self.

"I don't think she'd appreciate me telling you this, Ralph." Mike started later on when Vanellope headed back to Sugar Rush. "She's been having these... nightmares. I think what happened with the animatronics have triggered past events that weren't pleasant. It's still haunting her... and me too."

Ralph sighed, a frown on his face. "I wish she'd told me. Though I shouldn't be surprised. It's a miracle she hasn't gone insane from all the stuff that's happened to her in her life. First Turbo, now these monsters." He sneered at the game, wishing he was strong enough to just wreck the thing of the plug-in.

"I heard a few things about this Turbo person," Mike mentioned out loud. "I'm not sure what's scarier. A person acting like a monster because he chooses to, or actual monsters acting that way because they're programmed to."

"Both suck," Ralph said simply. He groaned as he stretched his massive arms out above his head. "Too bad these animatronics don't act like other bad guys. Imagine, Freddy at a Bad-Anon meeting."

"Ha, I wish that were case, trust me."

In the palace, Candlehead cleared her throat as she popped a marshmallow in her mouth. "Vanellope wasn't at dinner again tonight... all she does now is talk to that cupcake thing ..."

"She isn't acting like herself. We should find out what's going on and snap her out of this funk." Gloyd frowned.

"We aren't doing anything." Taffyta replied. "She'll come around when she's ready."

Meanwhile, Vanellope stared at the cupcake plush on her bed. "Do you think they'll come after me? Do you think they'll know? What do the dreams mean, cupcake?" She jumped at a sudden loud noise, looking out the window. "A storm... it's raining chocolate milk." Drops poured down the windowpane, its reflection splattered on the opposite wall whenever lightening flashed. She was about to go to sleep when she noticed the lightening continued to flash outside, looking towards the wall to see that the drops on the window began to form ominous words.

"Come see us."

Vanellope bit her lip, seeing something in her mirror then. She saw a familiar face staring back at her.

Golden Freddy.

Her scream was muffled by stuffing a pillow in her own face. When she slowly placed it down, Golden Freddy was mere inches from her, and her scream was cut off as everything went black.

The next morning, Vanellope didn't show up for gameplay, instead going to the Penthouse. "Mike... I'm going to talk to him. The new Mike. When the arcade closes."

"What?!" Mike choked on his breakfast, some fried eggs and sausage, all of it in a square shape like everything else in Niceland. "I thought we already said you weren't-"

"And I already said that I WAS going!" She softened her expression and gave him a pleading look. "I can't deal with these nightmares anymore, Mike. I just can't. I'm so tired…"

Mike sighed, noticing the appearance of dark circles around her eyes from lack of sleep. She was right, she couldn't keep going like this. "Okay," he agreed reluctantly. "BUT...you are not going alone. Ralph will kill me if he finds out I let you in there alone."

Vanellope looked surprised. "You're coming too? But...I thought you were-"

"I AM scared, terrified actually. But maybe this will help me with MY nightmares too."

Vanellope nodded, sitting next to him, taking a square cookie out of a bowl on the table and munching on it.

After another quarter drop, Ralph rubbed his head a bit, wiping some mud off of him. "I've been thinking, Felix. Vanellope's been spending a lot of time with Mike lately... she's been telling him some stuff too... you don't think that she's forgotten about me, do you? Like, maybe she thinks it's my fault she has her nightmares. It is, really... I shouldn't have let her go in that awful place to begin with."

Felix hopped closer to him to pat his hand. "Don't worry, Ralph. I think she just likes to talk to Mike because they both have something in common. You know, those nightmares."

"I suppose," Ralph agreed, his voice trailing off. "I guess I wouldn't understand THAT anyway. Still miss the little runt though."

Felix chewed on his lip thoughtfully before speaking. "Ralph, ya think...well, I was thinkin' maybe that..." He cleared his throat, obviously nervous about continuing. "Maybe it WOULD be a good idea to take Vanellope inside the new game."

The larger man looked down at him in disbelief. "Do you even hear yourself? Do you remember what happened last time we visited that franchise?!"

"Ralph, just hear me out!" Felix pleaded with him. "What if it COULD help her get rid of those nightmares? Wouldn't it be worth a chance?"

"Did you ever think that doing that would only make it worse? We know nothing about this new game!" He rubs his head. "I'm sorry, but I can't do it. I almost lost her in there, I am not risking that again."


	2. Revisiting Danger

After the arcade closed that night, Vanellope and Mike weaved through characters, keeping an eye out for the new Mike. She spotted someone coming out of the new game, tugging lightly on Mike's hand and moving him along. "New Mike!"

The young man blinked, looking at the child approaching him. "My name isn't Mike... it's Jeremy. I... I need to go see someone."

Mike couldn't help staring at Jeremy, who was definitely not a Mike. This was guy that was technically "him" in the sequel, despite not having the same name. "Jeremy, is it? H-hi, I'M Mike, I was the avatar in the first game."

"Wait, what? So you're-"

"Yeah and I'm Vanellope, look, we need to go inside your game, it's real important!" the little girl spit out, not taking time to consider any formalities.

Upon hearing this, Jeremy forgot whatever he was going to say and gave Vanellope a bewildered look. "Excuse me? Heck no, you guys aren't going inside! I forbid it!"

"Look, Jeremy... I went inside the first game and... ever since then these nightmares won't go away. I have to go in there and finish this, or else I'm never gonna sleep again."

"I keep having them too. I keep seeing certain things I don't recognize. I always wake up feeling sick to my stomach for a few minutes. As crazy as this sounds... we have to see if there's anything I... we... can find out."

"Well, it's pretty crazy... like, you think your game was bad, Mike? Wait until you see this. Actually... no. I can't. My brain is already scrambled. In this game there is literally, not a second to relax. I-"

"Look, I get it. It's hard guarding-"

"No, you DON'T get it. Try... eight basic animatronics, with two additional characters, and Golden Freddy, and we have NO idea how he's even triggered-"

"Wait, what? Eight? Two new characters? Why are there so many?" Mike asked.

"I don't know, okay? Just... I have to go take a break man, my brain is gonna burst!" Jeremy stormed past them, leaving Mike and Vanellope appearing bewildered.

Meanwhile, Calhoun, Ralph and Felix spotted Mike and Vanellope when Jeremy stormed past them.

"Jeez, what's his problem...?" She asked. "Hey, did you know who that guy was?" She questioned when they reached the other two.

"That was Jeremy... the night guard of Five Nights at Freddy's 2." Vanellope answered.

Mike was losing his nerve quickly after having heard about the new dangers. "And he said there's EIGHT animatronics plus two new characters PLUS-"

"Okay, that's it, you're definitely not going in there," Ralph said with an authoritative tone.

Vanellope dropped her arms down in a slump. "But Ralllph-"

"No 'buts', kid, I'm with Wreck-It on this one," Calhoun inputted sharply. "It's a miracle in itself that we survived against only four of those freaks. And now there's ten all together?"

"E-eleven," Mike gulped, his knees knocking together from shaking so hard. "G-golden Freddy's back too."

Vanellope stared up at Ralph. "You have no idea what these nightmares are like, Ralph. Mike does... and if you're not going to help me get in there, he will."

"Now you listen here. NO one, I repeat, no one, is going in that game. I don't know what fantasy you have in your head but it's not happening." Calhoun said, bent on one knee.

"How am I supposed to make the nightmares stop then, huh? I can't even race, I can't focus!"

Ralph furrowed a brow. "I'll take you to Dr. Mario tomorrow. Both of you." He nodded to Mike. "Going in that game isn't going to solve anything."

"Dr. MARIO?" Vanellope scoffed. "What's HE gonna do? Stuff a pill down my throat? I don't want to be doped on meds forever!"

"But you wanna go face a pack of carnivorous robots?" Ralph asked, his temper rising a bit. "That's as dumb as walkin' into a nest of cybugs!"

"QUIET!" Everyone piped down at the sergeant's loud command; a few random people walking around in the station even stopped to stare at her. "Arguing is getting us nowhere. I say we try the less dangerous approach FIRST. That means Dr. Mario."

"Maybe King Candy would have liked that idea too when I was nothing but a glitch." Vanellope crossed her arms.

"Now Vanellope, you know that Ralph doesn't think that... he's worried, we all are." Felix said, frowning and placing a hand on her shoulder.

"I don't care!" She growled, shoving his hand off of her and for a moment, her eyes darkened. She blinked, snapping herself out of it and shaking her head.

"Uh, kid?" Ralph gently prodded. "What just happened?"

Mike hid behind Calhoun, much to her annoyance. "Th-those eyes..."

"Gee, maybe if you'd let me go inside the game…" Vanellope began, throwing her arms out towards said game to get her point across, "… then maybe I'd find out what happened!" She glitched in place a few times, something she hadn't done in a long time, ever since she reset Sugar Rush so long ago. "I'm sick of arguing about this, I'm going!"

To Ralph and everyone else's horror, she teleported herself away from the group and towards the entrance to Five Nights at Freddy's 2.

"Vanellope!" Ralph shouted to her.

"L-Look, I'll go after her, o- one of you find Jeremy!" Mike shouted as he ran in.

Vanellope heard someone calling after her as she entered one of the party rooms. She turned to see Mike. "I am not going back out there until-"

"I'm not leaving either." He sighed. "There's got to be an answer in here for both of us. I promise, we'll figure this out together."

It was then they realized how eerily quiet it was, standing under the dim security lighting.

Mike grabbed Vanellope by the hand, not wanting her to run off again. Also, he didn't want to be alone either. "W-well, any bright ideas in that noggin of yours?"

"I didn't think this far."

The former guard lightly face palmed himself with his free hand and slid it down slowly. "Well, not dying would be a good start. Maybe we should find weapons."

She raised a brow. "Yeah, I didn't exactly pack my Sweet Seekers gun in my hoodie, so..." She let out a sigh. "Let's just look around 'til we find someone. Maybe in this game, the animatronics are normal-minded bad guys like Ralph is."

Mike tensed up when he heard what sounded like a music box playing in the background; it was even worse than the silence he had dealt with in HIS game. "I wouldn't bet too much on that."

They followed the sound, arriving in the prize corner. She spotted a cupcake plushie, beaming as she went over to grab one, hugging it. "I left the one you gave me at home, Mike." She said, looking up at him and he smiled lightly. He then blinked, noticing one of the other cupcake plushies moving, and he gasped when he saw it was attached to a hand, something slowly crawling out of the plushie pile.

"Vanellope, move!" Mike shouted, grabbing her and pulling her back as Toy Chica came out. Her robotic eyes rested on Mike, and she began to approach him slowly, menacingly.

"This one looks different, Mike!" Vanellope cried, staying close to him. As they backed away, they bumped into something, whirling around and screaming as Toy Bonnie stood there. The two animatronics neared Mike and Vanellope, reaching out towards them.

Mike had always thought nothing could be scarier than the old versions, but these guys... their deceivingly friendly expressions terrified him more than the old ones ever did. His fear sent his adrenaline levels through the roof, and he bolted away from them, Vanellope flying out behind him as he kept a firm grip on her hand.

"We need to hide!" he panted as he rounded a corner and nearly collided with a boy. "Ahhh!"

"What is it?!" Vanellope asked in a panic as she fell to the floor after Mike accidentally dropped her. Her question was answered when she looked straight ahead and saw the blank stare of a smiling boy, holding balloons. He looked as harmless as Toy Bonnie, who she actually thought was kinda cute in a disturbing way, though that probably meant that he wasn't harmless at all. Then again, he wasn't even moving. Was he just decoration?

Balloon Boy stared at them eerily, giggling and emitting a cheerful "Hi!" Vanellope grimaced, standing closer to Mike. She looked up at him, about to say something when-

"Hey!" Jeremy called, catching up to them, Ralph, Felix and Calhoun following behind. "None of you belong in here. Now if we don't get out before the game goes into 'after hours' settings, this place is going to shut down and we'll be trapped-"

They suddenly heard the sound of doors and windows shutting closed, sealing all ways into and out of the restaurant.

"You were saying?" Calhoun asked dryly as she blew her hair out of her eyes. She already had her gun out, not wanting to take chances as she and the other two had hunted down Mike and Vanellope. "Well, you two wanted to come in here, guess you got your wish."

"At least it has a better soundtrack than the last game," Ralph noted, talking about the faint music box he could hear in another room.

"It gives me the willies," Mike whispered, not trusting anything not even music.

Jeremy groaned. "Great. Stuck here with a bunch of strangers. Well, may as well just head to the office. Hurry up, the animatronics won't sit tight for long."

Vanellope looked around, looking at her surroundings. She glanced up at Ralph, who was not happy in the slightest. "Ralph, I'm sorry, but I need to-"

"Survive another night in this nightmare? So do the rest of us now!" Ralph threw his hands up.

The little girl furrowed her brows, shaking her head. "You don't understand anything!"

"No, you don't understand the danger you've put us in!" He replied.

"Both of you stop shouting please... I can't think with all this noise." Jeremy groaned. They approached the office, filing in one by one.

"Okay, I gotta ask." Mike started as they entered the security room, "What's with the music?"

"That's for one of the extra characters I mentioned earlier," Jeremy griped tiredly. He was obviously exhausted already despite only plugged in one day. "Have to keep it wound up."

"I think it's kinda catchy!" Felix smiled only to have it drop when Calhoun glared at him.

"Good, then YOU can keep it wound up," said Jeremy, still being somewhat rude to everyone. He didn't sign up to babysit all these trespassers; and he especially wasn't comfortable with one of them being a little kid. "One less thing for me to worry about."

Calhoun turned to Jeremy then. "So, were there any phone messages left for you during gameplay?"

Jeremy nodded. "Yes, one for each night."

"Mind if I listen?" She asked.

"Sure, fine, not like I'll just have to listen to them day after day..." Jeremy rolled his eyes.

Calhoun shot him a glare, playing each of the messages that were left.

_"Uh, hello? Hello, hello? Uh, hello and welcome to your new summer job at the new and improved Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. Uh, I'm here to talk you through some of the things you can expect to see during your first week here and to help you get started down this new and exciting career path."_

"You mean besides killer animals of death?" Ralph commented, and Calhoun shushed him.

_"Uh, now, I want you to forget anything you may have heard about the old location, you know. Uh, some people still have a somewhat negative impression of the company. Uh... that old restaurant was kind of left to rot for quite a while, but I want to reassure you, Fazbear Entertainment is committed to family fun and above all, safety. They've spent a small fortune on these new animatronics, uh, facial recognition, advanced mobility, they even let them walk around during the day. Isn't that neat? But most importantly, they're all tied into some kind of criminal database, so they can detect a predator a mile away. Heck, we should be paying them to guard you."_

"I wonder what happened in the first location... sounds a bit suspicious." Mike frowned.

_"Uh, now that being said, no new system's without its... kinks. Uh... you're only the second guard to work at that location. Uh, the first guy finished his week, but complained about... conditions. Uh, we switched him over to the day shift, so hey, lucky you, right? Uh mainly he expressed concern that certain characters seemed to move around at night, and even attempted to get into his office. Now, from what we know, that should be impossible. Uh, that restaurant should be the safest place on earth. So while our engineers don't really have an explanation for this, the working theory is that... the robots were never given a proper 'night mode'. So when it gets quiet, they think they're in the wrong room, so then they go try to find where the people are, and in this case, that's your office. So our temporary solution is this: there's a music box over by the Prize Counter, and it's rigged to be wound up remotely. So just, every once in a while, switch over to the Prize Counter video feed and wind it up for a few seconds. It doesn't seem to affect all of the animatronics, but it does affect... one of them. Uh, and as for the rest of them, we have an even easier solution. You see, there may be a minor glitch in the system, something about robots seeing you as an endoskeleton without his costume on, and wanting to stuff you in a suit, so hey, we've given you an empty Freddy Fazbear head, problem solved! You can put it on anytime, and leave it on for as long as you want. Eventually anything that wandered in, will wander back out."_

"Oh, real simple, just like last time." Vanellope said flatly.

_"Uh, something else worth mentioning is kind of the modern design of the building. You may have noticed there are no doors for you to close, heh. But hey, you have a light! And even though your flashlight can run out of power, the building cannot. So, don't worry about the place going dark. Well, I think that's it. Uh, you should be golden. Uh, check the lights, put on the Freddy head if you need to, uh, keep the music box wound up, piece of cake. Have a good night, and I'll talk to you tomorrow."_


	3. Tensions Boiling

"Well, that's a relief about the power..." Felix said, sighing lightly. "But no doors, that's going to-"

"Make us like sitting ducks?" Mike interjected.

"D-Duck? Where is it?"

Jeremy again rolled his eyes. "There's no duck. Unless you can't tell the difference between a chicken and a duck, I guess Chica would be one to you."

Calhoun snapped her fingers in front of his face to make him hush. "Look, pal, I know you're annoyed that we're in your game, and I'm sorry about that, but there's no need to be so rude."

"Oh and you aren't?" He bit back. "Excuse me, mister carpenter sir, go wind up that music box, I can hear it slowing down."

"Um, sure thing," Felix said nervously as he fumbled a bit to get the laptop and wind it up remotely. He saw a puppet and other things hanging on the wall from the camera and shuddered, doing his task quickly.

"You're ALL drivin' me crazy," Vanellope whined. "I can't get answers if you're all arguing all the time!"

"Answers about WHAT exactly?" Jeremy wanted to know, his arms shrugged up. "Some nightmares? So what, suck it up already like the rest of us do."

It took everything Ralph had to keep from grabbing this guy. "Hey, don't talk to her like that. You don't know what she's been through!"

"Nope, and I really don't care," He said as he switched his flashlight over to the ventilation shaft to his right.

Ralph felt like punching a hole through the entire wall; what was this guy's problem? Mike had gone through the same situation before and he was much nicer and friendlier.

"I didn't have nightmares until I got kidnapped by the original gang in the first Freddy's," Vanellope explained to Jeremy regardless of his attitude.

"Oh so they barged into your game too?" Jeremy asked Mike, and then clucked his tongue. "I'm not surprised, given what I've already seen."

Mike chuckled, wringing his hands together. "Uh, not exactly..."

Jeremy rolled his eyes. "So Mike, if you hated the first game, why'd you come in here with these... people?"

"Well... I've been having nightmares too actually." Mike replied.

Ralph, to avoid killing Jeremy, decided to listen in with Calhoun on the phone messages.

"These are all very suspicious." She shook her head. "Rumours? Trageties? What's with this old location?"

"Isn't the old location just the one in Mike's game?" Ralph asked with a raised brow.

"I think that's what the messages WANT you to think." She replied, "But I'm thinking that maybe they mean the original place. The very first restaurant, not just the one Mike was at."

"It WAS a popular chain after all," Mike added. "Maybe something happened at ALL the locations."

"You think someone went Turbo?" Vanellope frowned, now well aware of the whole Turbo story.

"I have no idea, but this guy is leaving a lot of unanswered questions here." Calhoun replied.

"See why we needed to come here? There's more that we need to find out!" Vanellope frowned.

"Well maybe I didn't want to..." Ralph rubbed his forehead.

"You're not the one having the nightmares!"

Jeremy groaned loudly. "If I hear the word 'nightmare' one more time, I'm gonna lose it! Just do what you came here to do and shut up already!"

"That'd be fine if we knew what to do," Mike answered him. "We didn't really think this through first."

"No kidding." He would've said more but they heard "hi" from the left ventilation shaft. "Oh great, BB's loose." Jeremy grumbled. "Get ready for Foxy time."

"Wait, BB, who's that?" Felix asked before he got his answer, yelping and hiding behind Calhoun when he saw the smiling balloon boy peek his face out of the shaft.

"Hey, that's the kid we saw earlier!" Vanellope said, pointing at him all while Ralph picked her up to put on his shoulder.

Calhoun ushered Felix behind her, pointing her gun at it. Jeremy rolled his eyes.

"Oh, calm down... HE doesn't attack anyone. He just disables my flashlight, so now we can't see if 'ol Foxy is around."

"Well, that's what I'm here for!" Felix smiled, hopping up and tapping the light, making it work despite BB being present.

At that, BB slowly turned his head towards Felix, and when that happened, Vanellope suddenly whimpered, covering her ears as her face scrunched. "Ow... ow, it hurts...!"

"Felix, you made him mad!" Ralph curled his fist and drove it straight into Balloon Boy's face, a sickening crack filling the air.

"Hey, hey, don't tear my game up!" Jeremy jumped up and shouted.

"Relax, it'll be fine when a player drops a quarter," Calhoun reminded him sharply, getting increasingly annoyed with this new guard.

"Easy for you to say, but you all being here is probably going to make them more aggressive!" Jeremy shook his head, plopping himself in the chair. "How did I get myself into this? It's like I'm always in the wrong place with the wrong people."

Calhoun looked around the office, glancing at papers and things every once and again. "You know... we can put a first person shooter in your place, Jeremy. The players in the arcade wouldn't know the difference. You don't have to do this."

"'I don't have to do this...' then what good am I? If I'm not doing what I'm meant to do, then why was I even programmed?" Jeremy asked.

"Because we are more than what our programmers tell us we are. What our programmers made us... if that's all you think you are, if that's the only reason you have for being the person you are... then you are greatly limiting yourself."

Vanellope glitched off of Ralph then, approaching Jeremy. "Do you know anything about the first game? Anything... bad?"

"Just what the phone guy told me," He shrugged.

"I'm curious how he's the same guy that talked to me in my game." Mike said then, "Since, I thought he was supposed to be dead and stuffed in a suit."

"Maybe they're just cheap and got the same voice actor." Jeremy suggested, not really caring.

"No, everything happens for a reason around here." Calhoun said while shaking her head. "This game is so baffling, so many details yet such a simple gameplay."

Mike and Jeremy both laughed at that. "Simple?" said Jeremy in stark disbelief. "You think this is simple?" He waved his arms around at the three openings as if to prove a point. "There's more to this than shining a light and checking cameras you know."

Calhoun thinks of something then. "Wait a second." She took a moment to listen to parts of the phone calls again. "Maybe... maybe this is before everything that happened."

"What do you mean? This has happened before? This place? Why didn't we know about this?" Ralph asked.

"Because the first game didn't let anything on, obviously..." Calhoun thought aloud.

"So why are all the new scary monsters gone in Mike's game?" Vanellope asks.

"Well, phone guy called on the final night on this shift, and said this place would be shut down. And I saw a news article that these new animatronics were scrapped after I left night shift." Jeremy added.

"Where are these news articles?" Jeremy opened a desk drawer and pulled out a few papers, handing them to Felix who then passed them onto Calhoun. She scanned through them and went "aha!", tapping her hand on one. "It says here they plan to reopen with the old animatronics in another location with a cheaper budget."

"Well that explains why Mike's game was so grungy," Felix commented before he cringed. "No offense, Mike."

"None taken, trust me."

"So wait, what does this mean?" Ralph asked. "That the game we're in now is really a prequel? I don't see how that affects us much."

"It doesn't…" Calhoun stated, "… as far as us staying alive anyway. It DOES affect Vanellope and Mike though. The nightmares they've been having will make more sense to them now that we know about prior events involving this game's plot."

Before they could discuss anything further, they heard something, looking towards the left air vent.

"You HAVE been checking the cameras and winding up the music box, haven't you?" Jeremy asks.

Mike shined the light down the hall, his eyes widening. "Uh, guys... we have company!" He exclaimed as Foxy now stood at the end of the hallway.

"Why doesn't this place have doors again?" Ralph groaned.

"Freeze!" Calhoun growled, pointing her gun towards the distant Foxy.

"That's not necessary. Just blink the lights, and he'll leave." Jeremy rolled his eyes, flickering the flashlight and eventually, Foxy was gone.

Vanellope was standing towards the back end of the office as everyone had gravitated towards the door to keep an eye on Foxy. As they did so, she furrowed a brow as she heard a sound coming from the left air vent again, crouching down to peek inside. Her eyes widened when she saw Toy Chica crouched inside, backing up towards the other end of the room. Her concentration on Toy Chica caused her to fail to hear the garbled radio transmission behind her as Mangle crawled out of the right air vent, climbing up the wall and up the ceiling. It wasn't until the others had warded off Foxy that Felix was the first to notice the pile of parts when he screamed shrilly.

"Jimminy jamminy Vanellope, the ceiling- look out!" He shrieked.

Vanellope turned as Mangle swooped down, her mouth opening and her arms swinging to grab her, when Ralph's fist collided with her, causing her to fall to the ground in a heap. She crawled along the floor, staring at them eerily as she snapped her teeth at them. Vanellope screamed on the top of her lungs, Ralph scooping her up as he tried to crush Mangle. She dodged him, ducking into the right air vent to retreat. Mike stood back in fear until he felt hands on him.

"Uh, hey, personal spaaaAAAACE! Get it off of me!" He screamed as Toy Chica grabbed him.

Calhoun growled, gritting her teeth as she fired at Toy Chica, pulling Mike towards her. "They're starting to close in! What's that time say Felix?"

"Uh... Tammy, there's some kind of warning on here, some red exclamation mark..." Felix said.

"Will all of you just BE SILENT!" Jeremy shouted, steaming. "You are all a bigger headache than all of the animatronics here! You are obviously just pissing them off even more, and making MY job harder! You must all be terrible at your games. I asked mister builder over here to do one thing, keep the music box wound up, but does he do it, no! You know what it's going to take to put that damn puppet back in its box, huh? I manage to do that and watch THREE entrances to my office, AND maintain the usage of this Freddy mask provided to me, for six hours, for six nights. That's THIRTY SIX HOURS of sheer will and concentration, and you lot have wrecked the place and messed everything up, in ONE!"

"Well sorry bud, but my name is 'Wreck' it Ralph for a reason." Ralph said flatly.

"Just. Stop. TALKING." Jeremy said through clenched teeth.

Calhoun narrowed her eyes. "Now if I understand you correctly, I would think that maybe you were the killer. Look at you, you can barely keep your temper."

"Do you have any idea what this kind of focus does to your brain, how tense it makes you feel? Huh? And how in the hell could I kill the kids if I'm in this office doing fifty things at once? And you know what? I could care less who the killer is, or what happens in this place! I just need to get this done, get through another night, so I can repeat the same six hours of my life over and over again once the arcade opens!"

"I told you we could put a first person shooter in here." Calhoun said.

"Well, that's really helping me now, isn't it?"

It was then that another uninvited guest had finally reached them. The Puppet pounced into the office, and Ralph attempted to smash it. However, the Puppet was very agile, speedily snaking through everyone to reach Vanellope. To everyone's horror, unlike the other animatronics, where in the last they would try to snatch her up and nothing more, it grabbed her, lifting her up as it levitated, and she screamed as she dangled in the air. It looked toward Mike, their gazes locking for a moment as the Puppet dangled her over him, before letting her go.

Vanellope screamed as Mike caught her with a "oomph!", falling back on the floor. Ralph got between them and the Puppet, his fists raised up as he kept his eyes on it. Calhoun shot her gun only for the Puppet to dodge every bullet. With a laugh, it scurried out of the room, leaving everyone breathless.

"My lands, what was that?!" Felix exclaimed.

"THAT…" Jeremy pointed in the direction it went in, "… is what happens when you don't keep the music box wound up!"

"What does a music-triggered puppet have to do with all this?" Calhoun wondered as she holstered her weapon.

"Beats me, but it's annoying as hell," The guard grumbled as he continued flicking his light in the different doorways.

"They're taunting us." Calhoun glanced around. "They haven't really attacked yet or else they would have attempted a group assault."

"They want Vanellope... and I am not going to let them take her again." Ralph said.

"Yeah... me neither." Mike agreed, smiling lightly at Vanellope.

"Before we do ANY protecting..." Jeremy interjected. "... one of you is going to go out there, and get that Puppet back in its box."

"Are you insane? We have to stay in this office, and together!" Felix exclaimed.

"Listen, sir, you lot are the ones who came in here and messed up MY game. So YOU are the ones who will go out there and-"

Jeremy was suddenly pinned against the wall, glaring as Calhoun stared daggers at him. "Talk to my husband like that again, buster. I'm scarier than anything out there."

Jeremy was about to reply, but then he shut his eyes tight, biting his lip. "Those visions... so annoying... you all stressing me out is making me have them out of gameplay!"

"Visions? What visions?" Vanellope asked.

"It's always the same one... I'm in that stupid Freddy mask and that Puppet always follows me... staring at me, looking right through the mask at me."

Mike's eyes widened, standing up a bit straighter. "Are the Chica and Bonnie from the first game on either side of you?"

"Well, they certainly look different. Bonnie actually has a face, and Chica-"

"Wait, so, you see the Puppet? You don't see me?" Mike tilted his head.

"No, I never saw you before this game, Mike. Besides, I've only been here a day." Jeremy replied. "What does it matter?"

"Wait... so... why would Mike be the Puppet in Jeremy's dream?" Vanellope asked.

"It may not mean anything... it could just be a different interpretation between them." Calhoun replied.

"But it's the same dream!" Vanellope exclaimed. "It's got to mean something!"

They suddenly heard noise down the hall, and Foxy was seen charging, about to pounce. Calhoun took out her gun, open firing but it barely slowed Foxy down. He tackled Calhoun, opening his mouth to clamp down.


	4. Losing Control

"STOP!" Vanellope shouted.

Foxy stopped his attack, slowly looking over to her. She gasped as Foxy slowly rose, reaching a hooked claw out to her. Ralph wasted no time sending his fist into Foxy sending him halfway back down the hall. Foxy growled lowly, making his way back towards the office. Suddenly, fire erupted again as Toy Bonnie, followed by Chica, crawled out of the right air vent. The office was chaos as Vanellope whimpered, clinging to her cupcake toy. She suddenly heard whispering, looking down the hall to see, to her horror, not just golden Freddy, but only his head, shrouded in shadow. Her petrified fear was soon washed away when her pupils dilated, her eyes becoming black as the cupcake plushie slowly slipped from her hands, shuffling towards the giant head as her arm stretched towards it.

Felix noticed this, gasping as he reached out for the child. "Vanellope, no!" He grabbed her best he could, and then was surprised when she started struggling. "Stop, I'm trying to help you!"

Ralph at last got the Foxy situation taken care of, the hooked pirate running off for another part of the restaurant. Calhoun started helping Felix with Vanellope, the three of them all surprised by how strong she could be.

"Kid, snap out of it!" If Vanellope were someone like Markowski, Calhoun would've slapped her by now, but of course she couldn't do that. "Good thing she's not trying to glitch away from us!"

The little girl's eyes were still dark, growling like an animal as she kicked and squirmed. "Maybe she CAN'T glitch when she's like this," Mike suggested out loud.

As Vanellope struggled, Mike tensed up as Golden Freddy appeared in the office, sitting and staring eerily at him. His eyes rolled up as he passed out.

"Will someone control that child?" Jeremy shouted.

"I swear if you do not SHUT UP, I'll stuff you in one of these demented suits myself!" Ralph shouted back, grunting as he managed to hurl Chica down the hall, and Toy Bonnie retreated into the right air vent. He then had everyone move aside so he could grab Vanellope. "Kid, come on, focus! This happened to you last time, you can't-"

"SAVE US!" Vanellope screamed, her voice glitching a bit.

"We're trying to do that, but you have to-"

"SAVE US! SAVEUSSAVEUSSAVEUS!"

"It's that bear, it's that Golden Freddy thing, it made her go bonkers last time!" Felix cried.

Mike slowly came to then, blinking his eyes open as he sat up, rubbing his head.

Ralph sighed with defeat as she thrashed about in his grip. "We have to end this. We have to stop them from doing this."

"And how do we do that?" Calhoun asked, throwing her hands up.

"We figure out why." Ralph stared down the dark hallway.

"Alright, alright!" She sighs, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Someone needs to stay her with him." She pointed at Mike.

"Just put the Freddy mask on him, he'll be fine." Jeremy said.

"No. We can't leave him here by himself." Calhoun replied.

Jeremy let out another one of his exasperated sighs. "What, you want me to babysit him?" He rolled his eyes while holding a hand up to keep Calhoun from answering. "FINE. I guess I can't expect a security guard who only knows how to deal with four of these freaks to keep the place running."

"Wait, how come I can't come along?" Mike wanted to know, a frown on his face.

"Because there's no need for this whole circus to go field-tripping through this building. It's hard enough keeping track of just us four."

"We can always tell you what we find out later of course," Felix offered with a smile.

Mike was partially bummed that he couldn't help the gang, but he was also relieved to be staying in one spot. "Well... guess me and Jeremy can compare notes at least. Try to figure something out on our end."

"I'll leave you one of my firearms." Calhoun said, taking out one of her guns. Jeremy went to take it, but she pulled her arm back. "NOT you." She said, handing it to Mike. "Keep an eye on him. And this is a walkie talkie. If you need my help or find anything of importance, radio me."

Mike nodded, still a bit dizzy from waking up. Ralph, keeping a firm hold on Vanellope, and Felix joined her in moving cautiously down the hallway. She had a light activated on her suit, bright enough to see a few feet ahead of them.

"So where should we start? I have no idea what else we can find other than what clues the guy on the phone left for us." Ralph asked.

"Don't worry. I'm sure Mike will come across something in the office that may be helpful." Calhoun replied.

Felix, having some draftsman skills, was able to quickly draw a map of the new layout thanks to the camera feeds on the laptop from earlier. They made their way down the main hall, standing outside the bathrooms.

"The rest of the older animatronics are in that room." He pointed. "The parts/service room."

"Now what I remember from the phone calls..." Calhoun started. "... is that there was something fishy going on with the first employee. Supposedly whoever it was, let's assume it's a he, took night shift for a week, complained, and was moved to day shift. Then, that's when Jeremy comes in, as far as back story goes. Something happens during that week that causes the place to shut down, and it involves that first employee."

"I heard something about a yellow costume..." Ralph said. "Do you think he was talking about-"

"Golden Freddy. I think you may be right, Ralph. I think we may be onto something here-" Calhoun was cut off.

"He sees only what he wants to see..." Vanellope whispered, Ralph still holding onto her. "What we showed you last time... it all happened here..."

Ralph looked down at Vanellope, holding her up a bit. "What are you talking about?"

"Don't look!" She screamed, speaking in multiple voices. "Don't speak! That's what he wanted from us. He took our eyes because they saw, he took our teeth because they did not speak. The pain festered until he made it ours!"

Calhoun stepped up to Vanellope then. "What does it have to do with us? With her?" She grit her teeth. "What did she ever do?"

"She is our new voice, and our new eyes." Vanellope grinned eerily.

"You leave her alone! I don't care what happened to you, you better stop hurting her or I'll-"

"Ralph, you'll only make them angrier!" Felix frowned.

The words were barely out of Felix's mouth when he felt himself being lifted, Toy Freddy staring at him for a moment before emitting a robotic like screech. Felix yelped, and Calhoun took out her gun, firing at the animatronic. "Let go of him you freak!" She screamed.

Meanwhile, Mike whipped his head towards the door, hearing gun fire and shouting in the distance. "No! We have to help them!"

"I'm not doing ANYTHING." Jeremy said flatly.

Mike grit his teeth. "My friends are out there!" He got on his walkie. "S- Sarge, I hear gunfire, I'm coming to help!"

Calhoun now had a grip on Felix. In one arm, gun in the other. "Felix, hold up my walkie." Felix nodded and did so. "Negative Mike, stay at your location and see if you can find anything. Any clues will help!"

"O- Okay, just... be careful out there!" Mike shoved the walkie in his pocket, before going to the wall on one side of the door, scanning the papers pinned there.

"What is the point of all this...?"

"I'm not bothering with you, I can't waste any more time." Mike said. He looked to the recorder, playing the phone calls through again as he looked through papers.

"So, tell me again why you are all trying to appease a little girl who clearly knows nothing about avoiding danger?" Jeremy asked.

"Because she's my friend." Mike replied.

"People like us have no friends, Mike. What we have experienced... no one can understand."

"But they do understand... Sergeant Calhoun, she fights monsters every day." Mike jotted something down on the back of a scrap of paper.

"If you say so." Jeremy sighs. "Finding out some truth, solving some mystery isn't necessarily going to make things better." He reached over a remote, turning on one of the TVs laying around, an Atari styled animation playing on screen.

"Hey... what is that?" Mike asked.

"Some of the 'mini games' that follow my kill screen. It gives me something to watch, pass the time." Jeremy replied.

Mike squinted his eyes a bit, watching the Foxy mini game. When the purple man appeared on the screen, Mike groaned, clutching the sides of his head. "Ah... my head... this... why does this... keep happening to me...?"

"Will you pipe down? So melodramatic."

"Shut up!" Mike shouted, gritting his teeth. He stormed over to the wall, taking down a few papers and slapping them on the desk. He started going through them in a frustrated manner when he felt something on his leg. When he saw BB hiding under the desk, he screamed, falling back. "Get it off of me!"

"He doesn't actually do anything, calm down."

"If you tell me one more time to- stop telling me to calm down!" Mike growled. He continued looking through the papers, opening a crumpled one up on the desk. "Huh... it's a schedule. Did you see this?"

"I don't care what the papers say, Mike. I really just want you all to leave. How you managed in your game, I have no-"

"I DIDN'T manage. I was TERRIFIED. Like I was in some kind of hell that I couldn't escape. And I am HERE now because I just need it all to stop. I don't know what kind of heartless, cold-"

"Hey, I'm not the one that let some oblivious brat come in here, talk about heartless!" Jeremy shouted.

Anger boiled in Mike then, hoisting Jeremy up by his collar. "Call her that again... call her that again, and watch I don't cut out your tongue."

For the first time, something sparked fear in Jeremy. Something in Mike's eyes made him feel uneasy, shrinking back as Mike let go of him. "I'm sorry, okay...? Just..."

"I... I didn't... I had no idea I was... that strong..." Mike breathed, looking down at himself. He looked back over to the crumpled up paper, holding it up. "Your name is on here... 'Fritz added for night shift... Jeremy moved to day shift to replace...'" Mike furrowed a brow. "That's... odd..." He turned to Jeremy, handing him the schedule.

Jeremy seemed to lose some of his indifference, glancing up at Mike. "It has to be a coincidence."

"There are no coincidences in this game." Mike said, swallowing thickly.


	5. Impending Turmoil

Meanwhile, Calhoun had managed to wound Toy Freddy after prying Felix from him. As she reloaded her gun, Mangle descended from the ceiling with a loud shriek only to be silenced by Ralph's fist. The mish-mashed monstrosity snarled furiously, suddenly striking his hand with her razor sharp teeth. Ralph howled in pain, Calhoun finally shooting the thing away.

Felix leapt up and healed him quickly, Ralph giving him a nod in thanks. It was then he realized that during all the ruckus, Vanellope had disappeared.

"Oh no, kid!" he called out frantically, remembering how it had felt to lose her in their visit to the first Freddy's game.

Calhoun swore under her breath, getting back on her walkie. "Mike, do you read me?"

Mike jumped at the sound, slowly taking the walkie out. "Y- Yeah... what's up?"

"We've lost Vanellope... if you see her, I need you to radio me immediately, understand?"

"Oh man... y- yes, Sarge." Mike frowned deeply.

"Good." She put her radio away, sighing. "Let's move this way."

Vanellope was on the show stage, standing with her head bowed as she was surrounded by all the animatronics except for the Puppet, BB, Golden Freddy and Foxy. Calhoun narrowed her eyes, aiming her gun when Ralph pushed her arm down.

"Are you crazy?!" He whispered. "We can't take them all at once."

"How are we supposed to save Vanellope then?" Calhoun whispered back. She then noticed her husband trembling behind her. "Calm down short stack, I'm right he-"

"F- Fox..." He whimpered, facing behind them. They turned to see Foxy staring at them, tilting his head. Calhoun raised her gun to shoot, when Foxy moved away from them, taking a few steps back. Calhoun raised a brow, lowering her arm.

"S- Save..." Foxy whispered, pointing to the show stage.

"Wait... are you... do you want to help us? Why?" Ralph asked.

Foxy growled then, holding up an old security guard hat, placing a part of it in his teeth and tearing it into two pieces.

"He wants us to kill Jeremy..." Calhoun turned to them. "I knew there was something off about him."

"Whoa whoa, time out," Ralph said in a harsh whisper. "I'm not gonna kill someone just because some psycho robot who wants to eat us says so!"

"Stand down, junkpile, I'm not killing anyone either," Calhoun retorted back in irritation. "Unless it's self-defense of course. All I said was that something was off about that Jeremy joker. But… there has to be a reason why this one is trying to reach out to us. It could be a trick."

Felix, who couldn't tear his eyes away from the giant pirate fox, gulped. "I-I think there's something off about this whole pl- place."

"What do you mean, 'something's off'?" Ralph wanted to know, ignoring Felix. "Yeah the guy's a jerk, but so are me and you sometimes, it's not enough to say someone's 'off'."

"Ralph, something terrible happened in the back story. It's... I dare to say it's... worse than losing Brad." She sighed, running a hand through her hair. "Children were murdered here. Children like Vanellope and her friends. It's unforgivable. And I have a feeling it goes deeper than that, even."

Felix frowned, knowing how much Brad's death still affected her. "So... are we going to just trust this... fox?" He asked.

"We'll take his offer with a grain of salt until we figure out the true motive." Calhoun turned to the mechanical Fox. "Save Vanellope and then we'll talk." She said, moving past Foxy. "Come on, you two!"

Ralph and Felix stared at Foxy warily, Felix gulping as Foxy stared at them eerily as they walked by. Foxy returned to the other animatronics on the show stage, speaking to them. Mangle hissed at him, and Freddy bowed his head a bit. Chica's head bobbled as they all emitted grunts and spoke in mechanical clicks and whirs, low whispering. The old animatronics seemed hesitant to continue whatever they were doing. Foxy held up the torn security guard hat, and the new animatronics looked at each other, before Toy Freddy gave him a nod.

Calhoun watched in silence as they did this from further down the hall. Toy Freddy was the only animatronic who remained after they all started to leave the show stage.

"Well, I think we have good news and bad news. The fox just convinced them to stop whatever they planned to do with Vanellope." Calhoun whispered.

"And the bad news?" Ralph asked.

"They're all coming this way. Move, now!" She whispered sharply, moving into one of the other party rooms.

Back in the office, Mike groaned, clutching his head. He had just finished watching the 'Take the Cake' mini game. "My head..." He sniffled. He covered his eyes, sensitive to the light now. "I... I can't handle this..."

"You...? You're the one making ME crazy! Your hallucinating is driving ME crazy!" Jeremy exclaimed.

"What are you talking about?" Mike cried.

_'I can't hold him off... help me, damn it!'_

Jeremy rubbed his forehead from the short flashback. "You and your friends need to go, Mike... this isn't good for me. I... I'm trying to stay calm, but I'm just on the verge of crumbling under all this pressure!"

Mike furrowed his brow then, glancing over at him. A horrible thought came into his mind then, his paranoia beginning to get the best of him. "Did you write this?" He held up the crumpled paper.

"What? No, you moron! It was like that when the game was plugged in!"

"No, you... you're trying to mess with my head. This whole place is." Mike trembled, breathing shakily. Jeremy heard something then, getting up to check when Mike took out Calhoun's gun, pointing it at him. "Don't come near me!"

"I have to check the damn light, Mike!" Jeremy shouted, shoving past Mike.

He was suddenly assaulted by Foxy, who wrestled him to the ground. Jeremy struggled for some time when Foxy stopped suddenly, slowly looking in Mike's direction upon realizing his presence. Mike scurried back, Foxy about to pounce when the Puppet suddenly appeared, dragging Foxy off of Jeremy and flinging him down the hall. The Puppet then reappeared, floating as he and Mike's gazes met, connecting. After taking a moment to recover, Jeremy looked over to Mike, and then the gun. Mike snapped to attention, and in one swift move, the two were diving for the weapon. Mike felt the cold metal in his hands after successfully grabbing it, screaming as gunfire erupted. Mike's eyes shot open, and he gasped shakily as the gun clattered to the floor. He began to sob as Jeremy laid motionless and bleeding, running hands through his hair.

"Oh, God... what did I do...?" Mike looked up slowly, the Puppet still staring at him eerily. Mike's eyes rolled up then, fainting.

Ralph and the others heard the gunshot, all of them jerking their heads back in the direction of the security room.

"What's going on back there?!" Calhoun yelled into the radio, forgetting all about staying quiet. "Hello? Does anyone copy?"

The only answer she received was static, which both angered and frightened her. What had happened? Had it been a mistake to leave the gun?

"I'll go find out!" Felix offered, already running down the hall despite his wife's protests.

When he arrived at the room, he was greeted with the sight of Mike passed out on the floor and Jeremy lying in a pool of blood. The handyman gasped, holding his hands to his mouth. He was about to try to heal Jeremy except that the new guard twitched on the floor, the blood slowly disappearing. Jeremy's injuries healed themselves and he at last sat up, leaning against the desk as he groaned.

"Ugh... what the... that jerk shot me!" He blinked at Felix who was staring at him and Jeremy rolled his eyes. "What? I'm inside my own game, I can't really die y'know."

Felix shook his head, gulping. "L- Look... I'll get Ralph, my wife and I are going to keep after Vanellope. You can tell her what happened, okay?"

Jeremy grit his teeth. "He's going to need that big guy... I ought to throw him to the animatronics to tear him to pieces!"

Ralph caught up with them, Calhoun following behind. "Hey, is everything okay?" Ralph asked.

"YOU can handle HIM." Jeremy said to Ralph, pointing to Mike.

"No... no, I have to get Vanellope!" Ralph exclaimed.

"We will handle it. Mike has the other walkie, use it to keep in touch." Calhoun replied, glancing to Jeremy. "You. Come with me."

"Careful, brother." Felix said before joining his wife.

Ralph sighed, plopping into the chair in the office and holding his head.

On the show stage, Toy Freddy turned as something appeared behind him, taking a step back. Golden Freddy's ominous head floated forward, and the shiny animatronic's eyes widened as wires snaked out of the floating head's eyes, extending to Vanellope. As they did so, wrapping around her arms and legs, she began to glitch horribly, struggling as the Golden Freddy head faded. Her head slowly rose, her eyes black with small white pin pricks. She whipped her head towards Toy Freddy, her face contorted into a scowl. "Those people are helping the guard... kill them like he killed us!"

Toy Freddy seemed fearful of Vanellope, giving a robotic nod before leaving the show stage. Vanellope watched him, grinning frighteningly as she bore her teeth.

Mike opened his eyes, gasping for air as he sat up. He looked around, his heart sinking when he realized he was in an unpleasantly familiar place. He groaned, getting to his feet and noticed the glow of the laptop beckoning him. He crouched down to change it, but furrowed a brow when it stayed on one camera, the kitchen. He shook his head, the sound of pots and pans clanging from the audio growing louder and louder. He looked around, unable to change the camera. He swallowed thickly, the sound of whispering voices beckoning him down the hallway. He heard different sounds coming from the kitchen as he neared it, and a sick feeling rose in his stomach. He dared to peek in, not even able to hear the clattering pots and pans from the laptop trying to beckon him back. Why could he hear all that noise on the laptop... but he could not hear any of it standing outside the kitchen?

It was dark, his eyes adjusting to the darkness. A flickering, low light was above, shining on a small part of the floor. He heard a sound, a man grunting. He dared to near closer when he stepped in something, blinking as he looked at his shoe.

Blood.

The light above him flickered more, and his eyes widened when he suddenly saw body parts strewn about in the dim light, the sound of scrubbing and a man dragging something around filling his ears. Something thudded right in front of him then, making him jump. When he saw what it was, he screamed, unable to stop.

Vanellope's head.

Mike clutched the sides of his head, his heart pounding a mile a minute. He looked up, the puppet standing over her as blood dripped from its arms. It stared at Mike for several moments before he heard its voice in his head.

"It's me."

Mike saw that Vanellope's head was now Golden Freddy's head, and he screamed louder as the puppet grabbed him.

Ralph jumped when Mike burst awake, having been watching over him in the office.

"Geez, what's your problem?" Ralph asked as he calmed himself down, watching Mike as he scrambled to his feet.

"N-nothing," He stuttered, raking a hand through his hair mindlessly. His skin was shining with sweat, his whole body tensed. "Had this screwy nightmare that Vanellope became Golden Freddy and then the Puppet-"

"Wait, Vanellope becomes Golden Freddy?" Ralph interrupted him, fear growing inside him more than it already was. "What if, what if that's the plan, to make her become one of them?!"

The wrecker got up from his seat, grabbing Mike's arm. "C'mon, we gotta find the others and tell them this, it could be important!"

Mike yelled as he got dragged out of the room, no match for Ralph's strength. "Heh, and you're the one who said these nightmares weren't anything to worry about."

"The only thing I care about is saving Vanellope!" Ralph cried.

"L- Look Ralph, I dunno about this..." Mike whimpered.

"So you want her to just suffer? We are her friends, she is depending on us!" Ralph shouted.

"You don't understand... I saw him... the puppet... oh... oh God Ralph, it was awful... the smell... it... it didn't just kill them... it... it chopped them to bits... those kids..." Mike broke down, curling up on the floor in a fetal position.

Before Ralph could digest what Mike was saying, he heard small footsteps, and Vanellope approached them, followed by Toys Freddy, Chica and Bonnie, and Mangle. The little girl's scowl stretched into a malicious grin, speaking in multiple voices. "It's time."


	6. Darkness Reaping

Back in the game area, Calhoun and Felix were with Jeremy. She narrowed her eyes at him, keeping her gun in hand. Jeremy stared at her flatly.

"What, are you going to shoot me too? Is that all anyone likes to do around here, make me do what they want or kill me?" Jeremy asked.

"I want answers. Just tell me what you know, so I can save my friends."

"Well, I don't have them, lady! What is solving some mystery going to do? Make you the new crime busters? It's not going to help anything!" Jeremy spat.

"And why do you think that, mister pessimist?" Calhoun asked.

"Because it doesn't change what happened!" Jeremy replied.

"No… it doesn't. But maybe it will stop others from suffering the same fate… I think you are the murderer, Jeremy. Your lack of empathy, your unwillingness to cooperate, your-"

"I don't have to cooperate with the likes of ANY of you! This is MY game! I have more concentration and will power than Mike could ever dream of. When people play me, I have control. I can keep the animatronics at bay, I do what I have to in order to survive. I'm not some wimp that falls apart at the drop of a hat!" Jeremy said.

Calhoun was silent for a few moments, taking this in. "Why did Mike shoot you?"

"How am I supposed to know… he's a nutcase!" Jeremy answered. "Foxy tackled me, we struggled, then the Puppet dragged him off of me. I was never crazy about that thing. Then we both just… went for the gun. He grabbed it first and shot me."

Felix noticed something then, pointing to a paper in Jeremy's hand. "What is that, Jeremy?"

He honestly hadn't realized he was still holding it. "This piece of garbage? Mike was freaking out over it because his name was on here."

"What are you talking about?" Calhoun snatched the wrinkled paper from him, furrowing a brow. "It's a schedule. 'Fritz added for night shift; Jeremy moved to day shift to replace Mike.'" Calhoun glanced at Felix for a moment. "There's more on here, this scribble is hard to read… 'Mike no longer reporting to work due to investigations.' Mike… wait, this… this has to be a… this has to be a mistake. The first employee was the one who…" Calhoun shoved the paper in her pocket, grabbing Felix and Jeremy.

"Stop touching me! What are you-" Jeremy started.

"We are looking this office up and down for more information. You comply with EVERYTHING I say, do you understand me?" Calhoun said tensely.

"I am NOT going to listen to-"

Calhoun shoved Jeremy against the wall of the main hallway, her whole body trembling. Felix took her other hand, tugging at her arm lightly.

"Tammy… Tammy, calm down!" He cried.

"No. This cannot be true. I refuse to believe it." She muttered, heading down to the office when she stopped short, the backs of the newer animatronics facing them. She silently instructed Felix to move back, taking Jeremy with her. Undetected, they went back to one of the party rooms, approaching a vent. "You first." She said to Jeremy, forcing him down so he could go into the vent. She followed, Felix behind her as they made their way to the office.

"Tammy, Ralph and Mike were back there, we have to help them!" Felix cried.

"Ralph has a walkie… he can handle himself, and if he needs our help, I will be there. For now… we have something to do." They crawled out of the right air vent and entered the office, Calhoun immediately looking through papers. A few moments later, Felix jumped when the sound of a phone ringing filled the office, he joining Calhoun as they slowly approached the phone. They looked at each other before Calhoun picked up the receiver, slowly putting it to her ear. "Hello?"

"… hello, hello? Hey, you can call me phone guy. Look… I have been watching you and your friends from the cameras… yes, I am not exactly a physical entity, but that's not important. What is important is me helping you, and your friends, in knowing the… the truth to all of this mess so you can all go back to your lives, and we can run things here properly." Phone Guy spoke.

"What's he saying, Tammy?" Felix asked.

"Now I understand you're sort of the front runner from what I've seen, so I am going to inform you of what you need to know, to take care of things." Phone Guy continued.

"Fine." Calhoun replied. "Start talking."

"The one you really need to worry about, the only one really, is your friend Mike. His character, despite whatever docile nature he has shown in my camera feed, is slowly deteriorating, to reveal his true nature. He is the most unpredictable, and if anything, he should not be allowed to survive. When he learns the truth, he will most likely do anything to forget it, and that includes murdering you and your friends."

Calhoun's breath hitched, wiping sweat from her brow. "So… was he the one who… murdered those children?"

"… yes. Mike is the true murderer of those children. He is also the cause of the bite of '87… see, Mike is a very spiteful person, Sergeant, and he will stop at nothing to keep these horrible incidents in the back of his mind because he cannot cope with them. In his game, the reason why the kitchen feed is audio only, is because it is where he mutilated the children to conceal the evidence."

"How do you know this if this game is a prequel?" Calhoun asked.

"My presence in the first game, the entire premise, is within Mike's mind, based on things he had already done. I have all the information that you need to know, and I am willing to share it with you. What you need to do, is kill Mike as soon as possible, and get the job done. At that time, you will have done what you needed to protect yourself and your friends, and things will be as they should."

"And what about Jeremy?"

"Mike used Jeremy that night to help him the night he murdered the children. It is not seen in gameplay, but Jeremy, on occasion, may experience hallucinations based on the trauma that Mike caused him to experience in back story." Phone Guy explained.

Despite this harrowing information, something in Calhoun told her that killing Mike was not the answer, that something just didn't add up. "I'm sorry, Phone Guy… but I need to find out more information, question Mike."

"That is the wrong thing to do. I'm sorry, but if Mike isn't killed… there will never be peace. I'm afraid I will have to finish the job myself."

"What are you talking about-" Calhoun started, but stopped when purple mist suddenly began to emit from the phone speaker, and she gasped as it entered her mouth and nose. As she began to tremble violently, Felix cried out in confusion, catching her as she fell, the phone hanging from its wire off the table. Her eyes rolled up, and despite Felix's efforts, he could not stop the malevolent force now inhibiting his wife as she passed out.

"Tammy, Tammy!" Felix cried as he gently laid her on the floor. Tapping his hammer on her did no good. He felt so useless and began to panic much like he had that time they had been stuck in Sugar Rush's Nesquick Sand. He checked her vitals, which seemed fine, though the fact that she was passed out was cause for concern.

"What happened to her?" Jeremy asked, having grown a little concerned when he'd heard Calhoun mention both himself AND the murderer. Or perhaps she was finding out that perhaps... HE was the murderer? Was it possible that he was suppressing memories of the crime? "Dammit, she needs to wake up and tell me what the Phone Guy said! How come he never called and talked to ME before?"

"I have no idea, Jeremy... but she is my wife, and I have to get her out of here! Something has latched onto her code and if I don't help her, she may not ever be herself!" Felix felt Calhoun move then, looking over with a sigh of relief. His relief faded however, when he got a closer look at her. "Tammy...?"

In the main hallway, Vanellope and the new animatronics were nearing Ralph and Mike. The old animatronics and BB, who Foxy seemed to stay close to, stood a bit farther back, watching. Mike hid behind Ralph, trembling.

"You will die protecting the murderer!" Vanellope cried in dual voices.

"I'm not a murderer...!" Mike whimpered. "You've got the wrong guy, I swear!"

"You keep the horrors within him... he does not speak, but he knows..." Vanellope points towards them, causing Mike and Ralph to turn to see the Puppet floating behind them.

The Puppet stared down at Mike as something began to emerge from it; thin woven strings used for marionettes, they began to extend towards them. Ralph tried to stomp on them, but they crawled up his legs, and Mike screamed as they swiftly wrapped around him. Similar to what Golden Freddy had done to Vanellope with his wires, Mike began to scream louder, trembling and writhing. Ralph was shocked at the strength at the strings, far stronger than he, and he was forced to let go.

"Mike!" Ralph cried. He whirled around to where Vanellope and the new animatronics were still nearing. "What do you want? You're taking all my friends, what in code's name do you want from us?"

Vanellope's dark eyes stared into his, white pinpricks glowing, lacking all emotion. "Revenge." She whispered.

Before Ralph could answer, Felix anguished scream was heard some feet behind him from the office, he and Jeremy shoving past the Puppet who was now suspending a limp Mike in the air. "Ralph, s- something's happened to Tammy!"

The Puppet's eyes grew white pinpricks in them, his strings still coiling around Mike before he faded away, Mike alone slumping down against the wall.

"What are you talking about?" Ralph asked. That puppet did something to Mike, and I still have to figure out how to save Vanellope!"

"But Ralph, Tammy is-"

"Alright, alright, everyone just be quiet!"

Everyone turned to the sound of the voice- or, voices rather, and Vanellope growled. "You don't belong here! This is our turn!" She cried.

Felix recoiled in horror, Jeremy stepping back towards Ralph also as Calhoun floated in the doorway. Telephone chords wrapped around her arms and legs, originating from her back as they seemed to emerge like tangled weeds. Her skin had become a glowing dark purple, her eyes black with white pinpricks similar to Vanellope's. She spoke in dual voices as well, a combination of hers and Phone Guy's.

"Now... I have emerged from my place, to restore some order here." Calhoun glanced around, setting her eyes on Mike before narrowing them. "He is going to be dealt with properly. I will give you all what you want, the little girl will join the other game characters in their safe return home, and everything will run smoothly as before."

"Now hang on a second." Ralph held up a hand, glancing back at Vanellope when he noticed she was beginning to twitch a bit behind him. "What's the problem with Mike? You should be trying to save him, the Puppet-"

"Yes, the Puppet, is the one who really keeps the truth of what Mike did. He not only caused the bite of '87, but he murdered the five children that stand right behind you!"

Ralph glanced behind him again to see Vanellope holding her head, glitching up and twitching spastically. "What are you doing to her? I don't believe you! And what have you done to Calhoun? Come out and speak to us yourself!"

The new animatronics looked to Vanellope with concern as she began to experience internal conflict. She glitched between herself, Golden Freddy and what seemed to be a third, small grey avatar. She opened her mouth, a deep voice crying from within as live wires emerged from her, forming into Golden Freddy's head that was blasted backwards. The new animatronics watched this in shock, and all hell broke loose. The old animatronics ran towards Golden Freddy, his head forming into his whole costume that was now laying at the other end of the hall. The new animatronics hissed and screeched, lunging towards Mike to attack. Calhoun smirked lightly as she watched this, but scowled when Ralph dove in, scooping Mike up just as he opened his eyes to also reveal black voids with white pinpricks, glancing at Calhoun for a single moment before passing out again. She growled lowly, closing her extended fist tightly as it reformed into a firearm.

"Tammy..." Felix stared at her. "Tammy, don't-"

"Run!" Jeremy grabbed Felix, Ralph scooping up an unconscious Vanellope with his other hand as they bounded down the hall from the new animatronics chasing them. Mangle propelled herself forward off the wall, her gaping mouth just inches from them. The four ran into the parts/service room, slamming the door behind them and they stood in shock as they heard Mangle slam into the door on the other side, hissing angrily.

"Well, we were nearly dead there... if we hold out long enough, maybe we'll make it." Ralph said.

"I don't think we're going to hold out, Ralph." Felix squeaked.

"Why?" Jeremy asked, turning and widening his eyes also. "You have got to be kidding me."


	7. Righting Wrongs

Ralph turned, ushering Felix and Jeremy behind him as all the old animatronics, BB, and Golden Freddy stood on the other side of the room. Ralph held Vanellope close to him.

"You stay away! You're not going to hurt her anymore, you hear me?! You want her, you have to get through me!" Ralph screamed.

Foxy held out a hand, his other arm around BB. The old animatronics backed away, a slumped Golden Freddy staring at them. Vanellope stirred in Ralph's arms then, opening her eyes to reveal she was back to herself, her hazel rings staring up at her friend.

"Ralph...?" Vanellope said softly, before glancing at Golden Freddy. "Ralph... he saw something..." She whispered.

"I don't care what these freaks saw, I just-"

"Stop."

The voice came in a whisper, soft like a child's. Everyone silenced and looked to the golden-hued bear, his head slumped forward as he struggled to speak clearly.

"I... remember..." Golden Freddy began slowly, words not coming easy to him. "A boy... crying ..."

"Because Mike hurt a kid?" Ralph pressed him. "He hurt a little boy and that's why he's crying?"

The lopped-over head shook itself 'no'. "No... Mike is little boy... was hurt long ago... at my oldest home."

Felix held his head. "Ugh, this is all so confusing! I can't keep this straight!"

"Man... injured him." Golden Freddy continued. "Man... wore badge." He pointed a large finger towards Jeremy, making the young guard back up a bit.

"Hey, I didn't hurt Mike!" Jeremy exclaimed.

"NO!" The bear persisted, getting frustrated at his slow memory and his limited way of conversation. "Not you... another guard... older."

Everyone exchanged glances at that. "Another guard?" Jeremy asked, completely confused. "But it's just me and Mike..."

"No," Vanellope said, shaking her head, an idea coming to her. "There's another guard in your game. We've been talking to him the whole time."

Felix shook his head, his expression horrified. "No... it can't be the... not the one in Tammy's code!"

Golden Freddy gave a slow nod. The grey avatar child beside him stared at them, and Vanellope walked up to him before looking back at Ralph. "We have to help them, Ralph. All of them."

Freddy had harbored a hate for Jeremy, being the one that had been stopped trying to stop Mike from murdering the children. When he realized that Jeremy was not acting on his own accord, he took a step forward. "Freddy... sorry."

Jeremy cleared his throat. "It's fine... I should have tried to stop Mike when I had the chance... but he threatened to frame me."

They all jumped when there was a pounding on the door. "You can't hide in there forever!" Calhoun shouted in dual voices. "You know Mike is guilty. Bring him to me and no one will get hurt."

Mike's eyes suddenly popped open once more, floating out of Ralph's arms as he heard the Toy animatronics outside. Before anyone could speak, the door flew open, and he tried to fly past them as Mangle continued to rip the door off its hinges. Vanellope felt the grey child's hand leave her, fusing with Golden Freddy but remaining his own mind. The old animatronics tried to stop the new animatronics, not quite attacking them. However, the Toy animatronics saw this as a betrayal, and the they began to attack each other. Foxy pounced at Mangle, trying to keep her at bay. He looked back at Vanellope.

"Go!" He shouted to her.

Vanellope glanced over at Ralph and Felix. Ralph sucker punched Toy Bonnie, sending her flying several feet backwards. "We'll be okay kid, just get out of here!"

Vanellope nodded, turning to take BB's robotic hand to glitch him out of the room.

Mike grunted, phasing in and out of the Puppet's consciousness as he crash landed onto the floor in the party corner. The Puppet revealed all memories to him, and Mike screamed as it flooded into his head. "I didn't mean it!" Mike cried, curling up in a fetal position. "It was... it was their fault…"

"No." The Puppet whispered in his head. "It was-"

Suddenly, Vanellope appeared, leaving BB behind the prize counter. "Hide here, Foxy and I will come back for you!" She then noticed Mike in the corner, gasping lightly. "Mike!"

Mike slowly looked up, unable to see clearly. His expression darkened, and he internally struggled with the Puppet as his mental instability returned. He growled, screaming as his code rejected the Puppet, sending it flying out of him. The memory of children always being present whenever trauma occurred in his life fueled his primal instinct, gritting his teeth as he went over to an emergency axe in the wall. He punched the glass with his fist, taking it out and turning to look upon Vanellope. "You're the one... you're the little brat who called on me that night..." Mike muttered, his vision unclear as he dragged the axe across the floor in his hand. "I killed you once... I chopped you into little... tiny pieces..." He chuckled, swelling into chaotic laughter. "I can just do it again, can't I? It's your fault I'm messed up, you know that?"

Vanellope looked upon him in horror, BB peeking out and trembling in fear. "Mike, it's me! It's Vanellope, we're friends!"

"I had no friends!" Mike cried. "They left me all alone, they let me be hurt! A- And then, they still mocked me! They said that I was stupid! That I didn't do my job right! But I got them..." He nodded shakily. "And you aren't going to haunt me anymore..." He had Vanellope backed up to a wall, raising his axe high in the air. Vanellope was too scared to concentrate on glitching, and she began to cry fearfully, looking up at Mike with wide eyes.

"Mike, please remember me..." Vanellope whimpered, screaming when he was about to bring the axe down upon her. He felt it slice through something, smiling wickedly. He heard something then, furrowing a brow to look over at a mirror. He saw a small, crying boy, and Mike took a step closer. The Puppet stood behind the boy, and he turned to see the Puppet was standing behind him as well. "Is that... me?" The Puppet nodded in response, and the truth played out in the mirror. He saw himself as a boy, standing outside Fredbear's Diner. He saw a car pull up, he saw the man glare at him angrily, felt the tightness of his hands around him... he remembered the true reason why he had done what he did then, falling to his knees.

"Vanellope, where are you?" Ralph shouted from down the hall.

Mike turned, looking down at the axe. He saw the shadow of something round in the darkness, and Vanellope's feet, closer to the wall, poking out from the shadows. Realizing what had happened, the axe fell from his hands as he trembled. The last shred of sanity was gone, believing he had killed the little girl who he called best friend. His screams of agony echoed throughout the building, sending chills down the spines of those who heard him.

Vanellope was still too scared to move, keeping her hands pressed against her mouth to try and silence her breathing. Her eyes were huge as she watched BB's decapitated head turn towards her and begin to roll back to its body so it could reattach itself. Mike didn't notice any of this, his mind numb with guilt. He stumbled out of the room completely, throwing himself into a corner as he sobbed.

"I'm sorry..." He muttered, his teeth rattling as he shivered all over. His memories became more whole then and he dug his nails into his wrists painfully. "Phone Guy..." He growled hatefully. "It was you... you did this to me..."

Foxy ran into the room then, screeching as he whipped his head towards Mike. He was about to lunge for him, when a small voice was heard, BB's. Foxy turned towards the animatronic child, before narrowing his eyes. He growled, looking again towards Mike.

Calhoun floated forward, narrowing her eyes as well. "Do you see what he has done, Ralph? He has turned around, and hurt the one you care about. He made Foxy do the same thing years ago, I saw it myself. He has to die, Ralph, so kill him. Kill him!" Phone Guy's voice deepened in his part of the dual voices.

In the background, the other animatronics were still fighting each other, the Puppet having joined in to try to get a handle on Mangle. The older animatronics had more strength, but the new animatronics were quicker, making them all formidable foes to each other. BB picked up his head, putting it back on before nudging Vanellope. "Hello." He said to her, and she looked up at him. She glanced over to see Mike in the corner, Calhoun screaming at Ralph and Foxy to kill him. Vanellope cried out, glitching over to stand in front of Mike, throwing her arms out.

"Stop!" She screamed.

At this, Mike slowly sat up, his eyes widening. "V- Vanellope...?"

The child turned, pulling him into a tight hug. "Mike, I was so scared..."

"I'm sorry... I'm so sorry, I... I'm a monster... I... I thought I did the same thing to you that I did to-"

"No, Mike. He's the REAL monster." Vanellope narrowed her eyes, pointing at Calhoun. She grit her teeth in response. "You're no better than King Candy!" Vanellope shouted angrily. "You're the one I saw in my nightmares, Mike's nightmares! Mike and I both thought we were the wrong ones... that we were just a glitch!" She took a plushie, throwing it at Calhoun. "You leave me and my friends alone... you leave Mike alone! I got King Candy back and Mike'll get you!"

Calhoun smirked darkly. "You know, I tried to save you... but if you're going to be a bad little girl..." She extended her arm where it formed into a firearm, pointing it at Vanellope and Mike. "You can die with Mike and his burden on us!"

Felix widened his eyes. "Tammy, please stop, you have to fight this! Ralph, you have to stop her!"

"I don't know HOW to stop her!" Ralph panicked. "I'm not an exorcist, and I for sure don't know how to keep myself from hurting Calhoun!"

Felix set his jaw though he had a pained look in his eye. "Ralph, Tammy would never forgive herself if she did something to hurt Vanellope, even if someone else was controlling her body! Please, I need your help!"

Calhoun grit her teeth as she fired, and Vanellope screamed, glitching herself and Mike out of harm's way. Calhoun's eyes darted around the room, illuminating the walls from gunfire as she continued to miss. "Give it up, Mike!"

Freddy decided that he'd had enough, looking to Foxy and they exchanged metallic words, Foxy running over to deal with Toy Freddy. Freddy then took to chase, charging straight for Calhoun's back and spinning her around, narrowing his eyes. "You..." He whispered deeply. He then grabbed onto the telephone wires around her arms and began to tug. Calhoun's eyes widened as she began to scream, and the more Freddy pulled the telephone wires from her, the more she began to glitch, warping between herself and someone more sinister. Finally, Freddy tugged out the individual, and they stared in shock as the sinister purple man rarely seen in the "save them" mini game was there before them. Calhoun groaned, and Felix caught her as she passed out.

"Tammy, Tammy speak to me!" Felix cried.

"... Who are you...?" Ralph asked.

The purple man stood to his feet. "My name is phone guy... and I am not going to stop until justice is served, and Mike is dead!"

"No!" Mike shouted, getting to his feet. Despite Vanellope trying to hold him back, he continued forward, gritting his teeth. He was ready to confront the man who ruined his life. "You are the one who should die! I remember everything now!" His voice cracked. "You... you nearly killed me... you misguided me and made me do something that made me feel so guilty, you screwed up my head! I actually thought that it was the children's fault, that back when I was a kid, they did nothing to help me, that when I messed with Foxy, that they made me do it... but it was you! It was always you! A- And then, I was so screwed up, I did something so vile... I didn't just murder them, I... I destroyed them!" The entire room had fallen silent as Mike spoke, angry tears running down his face as he stood up straighter. "My entire life, you controlled me. You always hid your blame behind me and made me the face of it. You will NOT control me anymore... I am NOT your puppet anymore!" He screamed.

As even the Toy animatronics had stopped fighting, listening to what happened, they hissed and growled lowly, not believing it. They were about to resume attacking, when Freddy ran in front of them, holding his hands out. The Toy animatronics looked behind them, parting as Chica and Bonnie made way, each carrying Golden Freddy by one arm. They gasped when they noticed the small grey child keeping close to Golden Freddy, and he was placed in the middle of the floor where he slumped as usual. Golden Freddy then began to speak in a deep voice that only the animatronics could understand, and the new animatronics began to look around in shock and confusion, looking to phone guy and growling.

"You're busted, phone guy." Vanellope said, crossing her arms and standing next to Mike.

Phone Guy glanced around, seeing all the other characters glaring at him. He had nowhere to run now. "Fine. I'll spell it out for you. Many years ago, I was an employee at a little place called Fredbear's Family Diner. The place was a dump, and there was one knock off animatronic." Golden Freddy growled lightly at that. "One day, I was trying to get home when the manager told me there was a child standing outside, alone, and that I couldn't leave. Of course I was in my car and it was running, because the old bastard couldn't deal with it himself. So I pull up to the kid, telling him to scram. He asked me to let him in, and I told him to go home. I got out of my car and went to move him, he started crying harder. I knew if anyone saw me they'd think I was abusing the kid. I told him to stop crying or something bad would happen... but he just wouldn't. It was then that I lost it, strangling him. When I stopped, I thought he was dead. I quickly sped off, no adults had seen me. I went to the nearest payphone and called the police, said I witnessed my manager, the owner of the dump, do it. To my delight, he was cuffed, taken away... served him right."

Felix frowned angrily. "You lied… why, you're no better than Turbo!"

Phone Guy continued. "The place was closed, I was called a local hero... but then I found out why. The little twerp had lived. I decided to just live as the hero, and later on I was asked to be the new manager at the Freddy Fazbear restaurant that took over the diner, being I was a superb citizen. Anyway, years passed, and HR assigned me a new day employee. When he came in, I immediately recognized him. It was that kid I strangled. I couldn't believe it... he didn't remember me thankfully, but he was pretty timid. Fidgety. I had to get rid of him, the truth couldn't be known... but it had to look like it was all on him. One day, the perfect opportunity came when he was having trouble dealing with some kids in Pirate's Cove. He was so easy to manipulate, so I was passive-aggressive. I told him that in the old days, when kids misbehaved, I would increase Foxy's volume so it would scare them straight. Of course, Mike tried to follow in my footsteps, even though he had no clue what he was doing. He screwed Foxy up pretty bad... that kid he bit was messed up, blood everywhere... Mike was horrified, and worsened his mental instability. He blamed me, and I told him that I never actually told him to do it, but I would keep it a secret so he'd stay out of trouble."

Foxy was beyond livid at this, his eyes widening as his teeth ground together. "You…" He growled.

"We moved to the new location, this location here, a short while later. Mike's guilt didn't subside. He blamed the standby children in his life for his agony and suffering, and he eventually became so driven over the edge, that he murdered the five children he lured in here. I didn't even have to do anything anymore, no one would ever know about what I did, they would only remember the vile things that Mike had done, and I got off Scott free!" Phone Guy laughed.

The Toy versions, though still wary of Mike, simultaneously growled at this news. They never would've died if it hadn't been for Phone Guy's mind games. The Puppet lurked in the background, inner rage coiling tight inside of him. Foxy looked as mournful as he could, BB reaching out to pat his paw as if to say that it was going to be all right, while the other older animatronics gathered around him in support.

Ralph was outraged by this as well, finally understanding everything. "You... you manipulated Mike the same way King Candy manipulated ME into hurting Vanellope!"

"Then you're BOTH soft-headed fools!" Phone Guy cackled. "Until now, everyone thought I was just the helpful old guard that provided useful information to keep the player alive. And I would've kept up the guise if it hadn't been for all of you barging in here!"

Felix gasped lightly as Calhoun began to awaken, blinking her eyes open. "Tammy!" He beamed.

"Ungh... Felix? Where... what happened...?" Calhoun looked around, slowly sitting up.

"Oh... and one more thing." Phone Guy glanced over at Jeremy. "When Mike was busy making those kids into mincemeat... he made sure that Jeremy would let him get the job done. He forced him to cooperate, but Jeremy seemed to have a bit of trouble keeping Freddy from trying to stop crazed killer... so I, being the helpful one as always, stepped in to lend Jeremy a hand. I took over him, and managed to get Freddy out of the way so Mike could finish off those kids and ruin him forever. You see, when people listen to me, they survive. When they don't listen, they're the ones on the sticking end!"

Jeremy was already ticked off with all this, but now even more so after hearing this. "You go to hell!"

"Looks like we're already in it," Phone Guy laughed as he gestured out with his hands, implying that the entire game itself was hell. "I'd say to kill you and Mike, but being that we're inside our own game, that'd be impossible right now. So... how about we just kill off the meddling outsiders?"

Mike grit his teeth, and despite Vanellope trying to hold him back, he lunged at Phone Guy, knocking him to the ground. The two wrestled as the animatronics watched, not sure what to do now. The new animatronics looked upon the old, before all looking to Golden Freddy.

"We must... end this... here." Golden Freddy said to them.

"Couldn't have said it better, bud! You're going right to the Fungeon!" Vanellope shouted.

Ralph gasped when Mike was shoved off, Phone Guy scrambling to grab the axe when he was stopped by someone; the Puppet. It stared at him eerily, silently, watching as Ralph grabbed him by his legs. "You heard the president... Fungeon for you."

Phone Guy growled with frustration. Felix helped Calhoun to her feet, and she dusted herself off. "For his sake, he better never be in a room alone with me or it will be the last thing he ever does." Calhoun said.

Jeremy turned, looking at the clock. "It's 5 am... we still have some time until everything opens up."

Ralph kept a tight grip on Phone Guy, and after all the fright they had endured, he, along with the rest of the core four, never imagined that they would be standing in a room with all these animatronics without fear of losing their lives.

The Puppet came over to Mike, its hollow eyes seemingly looking into his. Before, Mike would've been terrified of it but right now, he felt a sense of peace upon confronting it. It was akin to finding a missing piece of your soul.

"Uh, hi," Mike said almost shyly. "Guess we're kinda the same guy huh?"

The Puppet merely nodded once.

"Well... maybe you can find some peace now hopefully... maybe the others will stop hating you."

Felix looked around at the animatronics. "Maybe all of us can."

Foxy slowly approached Mike as well, staring at him for a moment, stoic. BB was beside him, emitting a small 'hi.' Foxy looked down at him before looking at Mike. He extended a hand, speaking lowly. "Forgiven..."

Mike hesitantly took Foxy's hand, cracking a small smile as he shook it before clearing his throat. "I... I'm sorry. For... both of you."

Foxy gave a nod, before he looked down as Vanellope joined them. The other animatronics, old and new, looked at each other, offered their own apologies in low whispers and clicks.

Calhoun smiled lightly at the scene, a bit shocked. "Well, never expected this to happen... I expected a huge pile of parts right in that corner there."

Phone Guy grit his teeth. No, this was not supposed to happen. As Vanellope turned to give Ralph a thumbs up, and Ralph gave her one thumb up back, he used this moment to his advantage. With Ralph's guard down, he squeezed his arm out, hitting Ralph's face, and was then able to break free. Calmness soon turned to panic again. He dove straight for Mike, when Vanellope tried to stop him.

"You leave him alone, you snot nosed-!"

Everyone looked in horror as Phone Guy moved fast as lightening, grabbing the child and flinging her across the room. She was knocked out instantly as Phone Guy grabbed Mike, snatching Vanellope along the way and zipping out of the restaurant.

"VANELLOPE!" Raplh cried.

Calhoun hopped to her feet. "We have to go after them!" Gun in hand, she began on foot, but blinked when something zipped past her.

The Puppet.

Foxy growled, looking back at Golden Freddy. He scooped BB up, placing him in Golden Freddy's lap before looking to Ralph, the two speedily heading out of the eatery and towards the tunnel to GCS.

"Jimminy, I hadn't even realized it turned to 6!" Felix cried.

"None of us did, but if we don't hurry Mike and princess cavity are not going to make it to 7 am!" Calhoun shouted back as they ran.

In GCS, Phone Guy hovered over a helpless Mike. "You think you can just get your sanity and respect back, huh? That a simple apology will just make everything go away? I am going to make you watch me kill her first, and then I'm going to end you. Or, maybe you'll end yourself... either way, I win." He turned, scooping up the unconscious Vanellope, wrapping his long fingers around her neck, about to strangle her as he tried to do to Mike, the inception of this curse.

"No, NO!" Stop it!" Mike cried, trying to fight the malevolent purple man. However, he soon had help as the Puppet suddenly appeared, his white eyes burning into Phone Guy's as they struggled to grab Vanellope.

"Get off of me!" Phone Guy yelled angrily as he fought the Puppet. He ended up dropping Vanellope to the floor, the girl lying there lifelessly.

Mike grimaced and crawled quickly over there, trying to dodge Phone Guy and the Puppet. "Vanellope!" he said when he reached her, cradling her in his arms. She gave no response and tears pricked his eyes. "No..."

A sudden rage filled him and Mike set Vanellope safely to the side, then let out a battle cry as he dove straight for Phone Guy.

Even the Puppet was shocked by this as Mike pulled Phone Guy to the ground, punching him repeatedly. "This is for screwing up my head! For making me hurt innocent people! And this is definitely for my friends!"

Phone Guy grunted as he shoved Mike off of him, about to deliver a critical blow when he felt himself being dragged back. He found himself face to face with Foxy who gave him a deadly stare, growling threateningly. Soon, he was joined by the other animatronics who surrounded him. There was an eerie silence in GCS as the group realized they were alone. Mangle snapped her teeth. Chica bobbled her head tauntingly. Freddy loomed over Phone Guy.

Finally, Golden Freddy plopped down, BB having helped him as he emitted a more sinister 'hello.' Golden Freddy and Phone Guy's gaze met, locking, the animatronic staring at him coldly.

"All... that he has done... will be given back... to him... now..." Golden Freddy muttered.

Phone Guy's eyes widened as the circle of animatronics closed in. "Get away from me you freaks! You hunks of junk! You're nothing without me, these games are NOTHING without me!"

In the center of the circle, the Puppet floated over Phone Guy, taunting him for a few moments.

Ralph, Calhoun and Felix huddled by Mike and Vanellope as Phone Guy's screams filled the air, his avatar torn apart by the animatronics. Golden Freddy's hand flopped over BB's eyes, staring intently at the scene. Calhoun held Felix who could not bear to watch. After several minutes, the animatronics backed away, and the purple avatar was no more.

"Jiminy jaminity," Felix breathed in disbelief, his hands covering his mouth. "Did they just..."

"Yes," Calhoun answered briskly, her steely gaze staring at the group. "Good riddance I say."

Ralph had gone to get Vanellope, glad to see she was physically okay. He held her safely against his chest with one hand and used the other to help Mike up. The guard blinked finally, still staring at the animatronics.

"Is it over?" he asked, looking at them all one by one.

The Puppet floated forward, now accepted, much like Mike, among the animatronics. Foxy gave Mike a firm nod as BB waddled over to Ralph. He looked up at Vanellope resting in his arms, tilting his head. "Hello?" He says softly.

Vanellope slowly opened her eyes, rubbing them and sitting up in Ralph's hand. She looked over at BB, and Ralph lowered her to him. "I guess we're friends now, huh?" She asked. BB replied by emitting a giggle.

Ralph and Foxy's gazes met, and they each gave a knowing nod. They began to hear stirring within GCS then, and Calhoun turned to the animatronics. "If you guys are all seen standing out here it's going to create a situation. People won't understand yet. You should head back in your game."

Chica's head wobbled, grunting as she waddled over to Golden Freddy with Bonnie, lifting him up and bringing him back into the game.

"Well... I think my days with these guys will be easier." Jeremy said, looking to the core four and Mike. "They still have to do what they do best, but... at least it will be no hard feelings between and after quarter drops..." He sighs. "I... I apologize for being so cold. I guess... what happened made me trust people less. Made me more standoffish. But... I'm happy that I was able to come to terms with what happened. Same with you, Mike." He stared at him for a moment. "However… an apology from you as well would be nice.

Mike cleared his throat. "Yeah... sorry we gave you hard time,"

Jeremy had his arms crossed now, raising an expectant brow. "And?" he prodded.

"Um... sorry for... shooting you?"

"AND?"

Mike chewed his lip in thought. "Sorry for making you cover for me against your will when I had completely lost my mind and threatening to blame you for what happened if you didn't?"

"That's better."

Mike figured that was the best 'all is forgiven' speech he was going to get from Jeremy. "Maybe… we can be friends?" He extended a friendly hand out, not sure if Jeremy would take it.

Jeremy looked at the hand held out for him to shake, and Mike thought perhaps he'd slap it away. Instead, Jeremy gave a lop-sided smile and reached his own hand out to shake. "Yeah sure. Can't really hate a guy who goes through all this trouble because of some little kid with candy glued in her hair."

Mike gave a small smile, and Calhoun gave a nod as they shook hands. "So, I guess you'll have a handle on everything in your game from here on?" She asked.

"Yeah… yeah, I think I've got it." Jeremy said. "See you guys around…" He said, heading towards his game. He slowed to a stop, turning to face them. "But next time… give me a heads up if you decide to stop by." He smirked a bit, following the rest of the animatronics inside.

Ralph exhaled, turning to Felix. "Well, guess we should all get back to our games, huh? First quarter drop is going to start soon."

"Boy, I have no idea if I have any hop left…" Felix stretched a bit.

"Oh come on, you bunch of wussies! You had a harder time kicking Turbo's butt and you were just fine!" Vanellope said, turning when she heard footsteps, many of them, behind her. She turned to see the Sugar Rush racers approaching, led by Taffyta. Vanellope blinked in surprise as they stopped feet from her. "Hey, shouldn't you guys be getting ready for-"

"We know that you were gone last night, Vanellope." Taffyta cut her off, but she didn't seem angry. "I know you went into that game. I've heard you dreaming about it at night." She bit her lip. "Look, Vanellope, whatever is going on, I just want you to tell us. We… we need you to be okay."

The raven haired child tilted her head. "Look… everything is okay now, really… sorry I made you worried."

Taffyta cleared her throat. "O- Oh… well, I wasn't worried about you, per se… just… worried about game play… and stuff."

Candlehead leaned forward, whispering. "She was pacing around the palace worried sick last night!"

"Shut up, Candlehead!" Taffyta snapped, rolling her eyes. "Fine, maybe I was a LITTLE worried about you."

Vanellope smirked. She looked around at all the kids, letting out a sigh. "Look… I know that… we always haven't gotten along… but you don't have to act all tough, we can still be friends, it's okay."

Taffyta looked at the ground. "No." She looked up. "No, it isn't-… wasn't, okay. Sure, we… we had lost our memories… but… but we still should have known deep inside that you were still our princess- president- whatever." Taffyta exhaled sharply. "I know that… what happened to you in the past… probably didn't help any with what happened to you in that game. And… I'm sorry. Not because I'm scared or I'm caught… but I'm really, truly sorry."

Vanellope smiled. It wasn't a smile from her ego, it was a genuine smile. She extended her hand, and Taffyta shook it. The Sugar Rush racers began to circle around her, chattering and giggling.

Mike smiled at the scene. He turned to leave, heading with Ralph and Felix to their game. When Vanellope noticed this, she stepped forward. "Hey, where do you think you're going, mister?" She smiled. "Come on and have some pastries before the first race like we always do!"

The young man stopped, biting his lip as he turned to face her. He looked at all the Sugar Rush racers, shuttering a bit as he hugged himself. "I don't think that's a good idea, Vanellope."

The girl frowned. "What're you talking about? You need some of your strength back."

Mike sighed, getting down on his knees to sit on the floor. "Vanellope… your nightmare is over." He smiled sadly. "But mine will never go away. Nothing can erase what I did."

"Come on, Mike… we're friends… that will never change." Vanellope said.

"I know that. But… I murdered those children, Vanellope. I know that now, and I can't change that, either."

At the sound of Sugar Rush racers gasping, Vanellope flashed a glare at them, making them silent. "Mike, listen to me. When King Candy-… Turbo… took away my memories… and the reason why he did that is because he tried to kill me first… I was in his way, just like Phone Guy tried to do to you. He made me think that I was never a good racer, that I was just a glitch that would never amount to anything. But you know what? There was one guy that saw past that." Vanellope smiled up at Ralph, and he smiled back at her. "And that's when I learned the truth. And now, my glitch Is like a superpower! I controlled it, and-"

"Vanellope, you can't compare your glitching to what I did to those kids-"

"I'm not finished." Vanellope held up a hand. "The point is… I was never what Turbo said I was. No matter what he did, I still beat him in the end. And Mike… you aren't what Phone Guy made you out to be, either. The only thing you are is my friend. And I'm going to give you a chance like Ralph gave me a chance."

Mike's lip began to tremble. "Van… I-… I almost hurt you really bad back there… your truth set you free, mine…" He sniffled. "I… don't trust myself around you, around… children, anymore."

Calhoun approached him them, lifting him to his feet by his shirt collar. "Now you listen to me, soldier." She said to him. "You think it's easy knowing that I failed to protect the first man I loved? I have to live with that every day, I can't change it either. That, is my back story. But if there is one thing I learned from short stack, and this crew… it's that your back story does not tell you who you are and it does not define you. It's what you do after your back story that counts." Mike nodded a bit, hanging his head, to which it was lifted by Calhoun, smiling lightly. "At ease, soldier." She nodded. "You're one of us whether you like it or not."

Mike looked around, a lump in his throat as he felt Vanellope hug his leg. He bent down, hugging her back as he sniffled. They stayed this way for what seemed like an eternity, and they all realized that the bonds they had formed could never be broken.


	8. Epilogue

After the ordeal, Mike allowed himself to be accepted by his friends, even being bold enough to continue to spend time with the Sugar Rush racers. He found himself to be extremely helpful around GCS, and Ralph brought him to Anon Anonymous regularly to seek guidance. From that, he would go to Jeremy's game, speaking with the grey avatar children every so often. There were many tears shed on his part, but their forgiveness and understanding from the truth promoted healing on both ends. Jeremy fit in well in GCS, accepting the core four and Mike as his friends as well. For once in Mike's life, he finally began to know the feeling of peace, and freedom from the shackles he carried with him in the back of his mind for so long. He and Vanellope both were nightmare free.

As for the animatronics, outside of gameplay, they were far less menacing and even reached out to Jeremy with an odd friendship. This could also be said for Mike and the core four… as Vanellope and BB began to spend time together outside of gameplay. It seems the human like animatronic had garnered a certain fondness for Vanellope.

The two sat on a bench in GCS, Vanellope remembering something then.

"Crud, I almost forgot!" When she turned to dig something out of her pocket, upon turning back, she blinked when BB was suddenly found holding out a heart shaped pizza box and emitting a small giggle. She chuckled, rolling her eyes playfully and putting a candy necklace around his neck.

"Ooooo!" The Sugar Rush racers said as they eavesdropped from a few feet away. Candlehead noticed a shadow looming over them then, and looking up, she saw Foxy staring down at them, teeth bared. Her scream was soon joined by the others as all the racers scattered. Foxy threw his head back, laughing mechanically as he approached Vanellope and BB. Ralph came up to them as well, he and Foxy fist pumping.

"Alright kids, play date's over." Ralph said as Vanellope and BB went with their respective guardians back to their games.

The animatronics were slowly accepted into the GCS community, now that they too had found peace and had given up their blood thirsty vengeance outside of gameplay. All seemed to be well, and as Vanellope entered her bedroom to get ready for sleep that night, she took out her cupcake plushie, smiling and hugging it.

"Everything's going to be okay, Mike." She said to it, smiling as she put on her pajamas, and snuggled under the covers.

Just as she was about to enter deep sleep, a sound filling the room roused her. She rubbed her eyes before blinking them open, looking towards her dresser. Furrowing a brow, she clung the plushie to her as the sound continued.

Her phone was ringing.

Moonlight poured in through her tall window, her head tilting a bit as step by step, she neared the phone. As she did, her shadow was cast on the floor behind her, thinning and elongating with each step. It soon reached the place where the floor and the opposite wall met, growing up the wall, taller and taller. She was mere inches from the phone now, and the shadow towered over her as her hand slowly extended, reaching for the phone. As she did, the shadow's hand reached out as well, mere inches from the back of the girl's head. Her hand lingered just millimeters from the phone, and when she exhaled sharply, her hand went back to her side. Moments later, the ringing stopped, and the shadow diminished as she slowly backed up towards her bed, staring at the telephone all the way. Once back under the warmth and safety of the covers, she looked at the cupcake plushie for several moments before hugging it to her, shutting her eyes tight.

"It'll be okay, Mike." The confidence in her voice more forced now as she convinced herself that the words held truth. "Nothing else is going to happen to us."

The End.


End file.
